We all know how tough it can be to get a prime-time table on short notice at most restaurants. So what's a suitor to do if he wants to wow the object of his affection with a reservation at one of the spots on Grub Street's Power Rankings list or Eater's Heat Map.

Showing up unannounced and slipping the maître d' some bills is certainly an option, but zurvu presents a more appealing alternative. The recently launched website offers access to 40 New York City restaurants like Alder, Charlie Bird, Felidia, Toro, and wd-50, and zurvu says the number of participating restaurants is growing by the day.

After signing up, diners can select a date, time, and number of guests, and then browse the list of options the same way they would on a site like OpenTable. Once they find a spot they like, they click a button indicating they want to be added to the restaurant's queue—a standby list, essentially. The restaurant can then offer them a reservation one hour before or after their desired time. It's free to "queue up," as the Brits would say, and there is no limit to the number of queues a diner can join.

Zurvu contacts diners via e-mail or text messeage to let them know once a restaurant has confirmed a reservation. They're then responsible for paying a $10 fee by credit card, $1 of which is donated to Food & Wine's Grow for Good initivativebenefitting Wholesome Wave, which helps lower-income families get access to farm-to-table food.

I tested out the service a couple of weekends ago. Having read a glowing two-star review of Contra in the New York Times two weeks earlier, I wanted to check it out for a Saturday night date. But I procrastinated on my final selection and didn't get around to calling until Friday evening, at which point there was no answer. The restaurant's website says it takes reservations only over the phone and only between 12pm and 4pm. Getting a table for the following night seemed like the perfect challenge for zurvu. I put in my request and at 9:19 am the following morning I received an e-mail and a text telling me I had gotten in with a 7:30pm reservation. When I arrived, the restaurant had my name just like a regular reservation. The process worked flawlessly.

For last-minute reservation crunches, it really is nice to know there is another option besides trying to bribe someone for a table or waiting hours for a a seat at somewhere that doesn't take reservations. Zurvu is offering T&C readers their first reservation for free by using "tandc" as the invite code when they sign up. Give it a try.